he Beginning of Great Feast Festival of North Grand

A cave was located right in territory of North Grand. A man around two meters tall walked inside the huge passage, far too big for a human. The man wore navy blue attire with strips, with pure white feathers on his black coat, and his face bestial, his entire face was covered with red hair.

A man with red beard stopped in front of a giant, blue dragon whose length surpassed ten metres.

『Ho, a rare visitor.』

With interested look on their face, the giant blue dragon muttered so while bending his neck to see the red bearded man,.

「Yeah. The last time we meet was in Deboa's campaign.」

The blue dragon frowned upon hearing the word [Deboa] from the man with red beard.

『That one seems to be dead.』

Said so with wry smile on its face.

「Yeah. It is also rumored that it got defeated by a human.」

『Is that true? A human beating that monster sounds like a lie though.』

The blue dragon swung his head,

「As if that's the truth. The point about only a human defeated it is a lie.」

The red-bearded man replied with profound remark.

『What do you mean?』

The blue dragon muttered in irritation,

「Wooah, calm down now.」

Though the man apologized, his face showed otherwise.

『Just fess it up already!』

Upon hearing the blue dragon urging the man to continue, the latter shrugged his shoulder begin,

「It seems they won by using contract spirit, spirit king of earth; Titan.」

He told the truth to the blue dragon.

『Titan? How ridiculous! There's no way a single spirit king can beat that evil dragon!』

Blue dragon thought that the other party was lying, and was pissed off.

「No, that's the truth. Right, officer Ashmedia?」

The man grinned widely as he asked the robe-clad blonde-haired woman in standing behind him.

「Yes, that's the truth.」

『How can you say that? Did you personally witness Titan slaying [Deboa]?』

「No, we did not.」

『Then it must be a lie!』

The blonde-haired woman smiled wryly upon seeing the blue dragon dismissing the news as fake.

「According to the human information broker, duchess Felis Loto Amelia from Amelia kingdom is the one who used Titan, she cooperated with several figures from underworld organizations to subjugate [Deboa].」

And added that piece of the information.

『Don't mess with me!! No matter how much the likes of those humans gather, they can't never beat [Deboa]! Don't mess with me! Not even a speck of your bone will be left if I burn you, Ashmedia! 』

The blue dragon roared in rage till spark of flames came out from their mouth toward the blonde woman in black robe.

「Though there's some complication in the information, the big shot of Babel and Amelia kingdom has the same onion. That's why this information is without a doubt, true. It seems that even the legendary evil dragon [Deboa] is getting weaker after being sealed for too long.」

Even though the air in the place was trembled due to the angry roar of the blue dragon, the blonde-haired woman replied with cool face without even twitching her eyebrows.

『Even if it getting weaker, it's still that [Deboa]! Bug who used by the likes of human can never beat it!』

The blonde-haired woman only shrugged her shoulders upon hearing the blue dragon's remark and,

「About that, there's mismatch in each sides' opinion. Hero, sage, holy knight, the current human is not strong to the point that we can't beat them. The factor that playing in their victory might be duchess Felis' special gift, strengthening Titan's power which allowed the latter to defeat the weakened Deboa.」

The blonde-haired woman refuted as she stated her opinion.

「I also agree with them. This is already unavoidable situation, Cetus. If we didn't do anything, we're most likely going to be exterminated by that human.」

The man with red beard spoke as if admonishing the blue dragon, Cetus.

『HAH! GIFT!GIFT!GIFT!GIFT!GIFT! IN THE END, THOSE HUMAN ARE NOTHING MORE THAN THE GOD'S PAWN! BUNCH OF VICIOUS BASTARDS WHO LOVE, THE WEAKEST RACE!』

Upon hearing the blue dragon cursing the gods,

「It should be called 『Divine Protection』 instead of gift in god's circle right, Aldebaran-dono?」

The blonde-haired woman asked for the confirmation from the man with red beard, Aldebaran. Aldebaran nodded.

「That's right, I received an oracle which taught me the method to receive 『Divine Protection』 from our god.」

He looked up as he spread his arms.

『『Divine Protection』 of our god?』

The blue dragon, Cetus, narrowed their eyes in suspicion upon hearing Aldebaran's remark, upon seeing that, the smile on Aldebaran's face widened, he then snapped his fingers.

Upon seeing that, Aldebaran's attendants who stayed behind him nodded lightly and then went even deeper into the cave.

Pair of man and woman appeared a while later. The man carried sack that seems to contain a creature inside, the woman carried something with human shape.

That something in human shape was restrained with metal bangles on each of their limbs, they also put on deep hood that hide their feature.

『What's that?』

Upon hearing Cetus asked with unusually perturbed voice, Aldebaran snapped his fingers again.

The demon race man who carried a sack on his shoulder opened the string that sealed the sack and threw out the content of the sack. The creature inside the sack turned out to be a young bird folk―― Garuda tribe.

And then, when the female attendant unfolded the hood of human creature, it turned out to be a man with dog-head, numerous thick blood vessels were bulging out on his skin.

『He look different but, a kobold eh.』

The blue dragon, Cetus muttered so while narrowing their eyes,

「Nope, he's one of my people who can't pay their tax.」

Aldebaran corrected Cetus.

『He's, a demon race? Then why did he look like a kobold?』

「Well, see for yourself.」

Aldebaran then sent a signal with his eyes to his male attendant. The male attendant then brought the dog head closer to the youth from Garuda tribe who still trembled nonstop.

And then, the mouth of the dog head suddenly opened wide as if his jaw was dislocated――

――CRUNCH!

He bit the head of the Garuda youth in one go. Blood spurted like fountain from the headless body.

As the man with dog head chewed the head of the Garuda youth, pair of pure white wings appeared from his back. That was definitely the trait of Garuda tribe.

『What the hell is that?』

Upon hearing Cetus ask that question after they saw that eerie spectacle, Aldebaran pointed toward the right-hand of the man with dog head and,

「This is my divine protection――『Gluttony's Offering』!」

And declared loudly.

『『Gluttony's Offering』?』

Seeing Cetus flabbergasted,

「It's power that allow your kin to become stronger by forcing them to eat the others.」

Aldebaran explained his power with proud look on his face.

Even the blonde-haired woman took a step back, frowned upon seeing that bizarre spectacle,

『How did you managed to get that divine protection!?』

Cetus' body moved toward Aldebaran; Cetus' eyes were filled with undisguised lust for power.

「Cetus, you're also chosen just like me. Calm down, you're eligible to receive the divine protection too.」

Upon hearing Aldebaran's remark which completely sounded like a missionary,

『Enough that useless chitchat! Just tell me about the oracle now!』

Cetus cut short Aldebaran's roundabout remark with undisguised excitement in their voice.

That moment――

『Ni~ce! The train of thought that lacks any kind or ethic, action and is extremely faithful to your own desire! You guys are the best! You make my heart throb!』

A squirrel hiding in the pocket of the blonde-haired woman stated their joyous feeling.

Thus began, the [Great Feast Festival] that would dye North Grand in the color of blood and slaughter.